Burning Love & Forgotten Memories
by Kenjiro Minami
Summary: A house fire is what started it, and I was the one to end it. She's gone because of me, but I made sure she knew I loved her before she left. If only I had known. She'd still be with me today. But now my love is gone, and it's all my fault. / I never knew why my father cried, i never asked why. But when I did... I think it helped both of us, because my Dad was finally happy again.
1. Burning Love

Danny paced restlessly in the waiting room of the emergency hospital. His face was smudged with grim and black streaks of charcoal, hair a mess with ash littering his brown strands, seemingly like loose dandruff, though before that day his hair was always clean. His wife, Ty Rivera, formerly Ty _Winters_ two years ago, was the reason why he was pacing in the emergency room. His father, Adam Rivera, was there, too, tiredly looking on his pacing son through half narrowed, droopy eyes, trying not to fall asleep since he had been woken up just ten minutes ago by his son, telling him to rush down to the Boston Emergency Hospital. He didn't know why he had been told to do so, and was growing ever more concerned as his brain woke up and he began registering the fact that Danny was pacing.

Danny saw a nurse exit the room his wife was in, and he rushed forward to them, ash falling from his hair as he did. "Is she okay?" He asked them. "Is everything alright with her? Is Ty alright?" He asked hurriedly, concern lacing his voice with an edge of fear as the worst scenario played through his mind. He watched as the nurse bit her lip before walking away, avoiding Danny's questions by entering another patient room.

Danny was about to go after the nurse, until a gurney rolled out of the room behind him. Doctors and nurses were shouting at each other as they pushed it down the hall. "We need to get her to surgery!" They shouted to each other. "We need to at least try to save the children!"

"Children?" Another doctor not pushing the gurney repeated. They looked towards Danny's wife, though he still couldn't see her since the doctors pushing her down the hallway were blocking her from his sight. Their eyes widened, and they immediately began to usher everybody out of the hallway as well, making room for the gurney as they rushed to surgery.

 _Oh gods_ , Danny thought as he turned around, trying to follow after them. _No no no no no. Not the kids... no... we were going to be happy together... the twins, my love, and I... we were going to be happy..._

A doctor stopped the half hippocampus from following after his wife and unborn children. "What are you doing?!" Danny exclaimed furiously. "I have to help her!"

The doctor tried soothing the half monster, trying to get him to back down as his wife disappeared behind a set of double doors. "Theres nothing you can do but hope, sir. Please take a seat."

"I need to try!" He shouted stubbornly, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks, clearing rivers down his sooty face. A pair of strong hands suddenly grabbed hold of Danny's arms, and the half hippocampus struggled against his full hippocampus father, trying to fight his way to his wife as he was pulled back to the seats. "You have to save her! You have to! She's my wife!"

"Danny. Danny, they know she is." Adam huffed as he pulled his son away from the doctor. Their eyes were wide open, left shocked and stunned by the aggression of the man.

"They aren't doing anything to save her!"

"They are trying their best, Daniel!" Adam shouted back. Danny stopped struggling against his father, silent tears falling down his face. His father waited awhile before releasing his sons arms, only to watch him collapse onto the ground, sobbing.

"It's my fault." He cried. "It's all my fault. If I would have just checked out that smell and fixed the broken gas line like I had to, she wouldn't be here right now. She wouldn't be dying. It's my fault. It's all my fault..."

Adam bit the inside of his cheek as he watched his son cry, hesitant. He knelt down, wrapping his arms around Danny, and the half hippocampus immediately turned towards his father, welcoming his comfort. He sobbed into his father's clean shirt, dirtying it with his grimy tears and ash ridden hair. "It's okay, Danny. It's okay... Just let it all out, my boy. Just let it all out..."

·*·*·*

Danny stood at the side of his wife's bed, holding her unburnt hand in his own, waiting hopefully for her to wake soon. Her stomach was no longer swollen, their kids surgically removed, though only one was able to be saved. The girl, the one Ty had wanted to name Ginny. The boy, the one they had agreed to name Jack, had heated up too much inside the womb that his heart had stopped, and they were unable to revive him, leaving the couple with only one child instead of the two they had been so eagerly awaiting.

Danny sighed, resting his forehead in the empty spot of the bed next to his wife. Most of her body was covered with bandages, hiding from her husband the third and fourth degree burns she was suffering. She had many tubes running from her face, supplying her oxygen since her lungs could no longer function on their own, destroyed by the black smoke she had breathed in during the house fire. A large machine rested on wheels beside her, a thing the doctors were calling her "life support". Danny knew she wouldn't make it to see her only child open her eyes, but he kept denying it. He wanted her to be able to see Ginny like he had. He wanted her to wake up and see that he hadn't left her side once for a month since the accident. He wanted to hold her again, to breath in her comforting scent after she had taken a shower. He wanted to kiss her like he had before the accident, tell her now much he loved her and she do the same, just like before the accident.

Danny looked up as he felt his wife stir. His deep blue eyes widened in hope as her hand tightened around his, weakly, though it still tightened. The half hippocampus watched as his wife opened the one multi colored eye that wasn't covered with bandages, watching her squint against the light that greeted it, letting out a small noise he couldn't quite make out because of the tubes in her throat.

"Ty? Love?" He asked hopefully as she woke up. She let out another sound he couldn't quite make out, and removed her hand from his. She lifted it, making movements he thought were just random gestures, but what he realized was her signing something to him in sign language. He tried to understand what she was saying after he realized she started signing, but he couldn't get the full picture without the first bit. "I'm sorry, love. Can you repeat, please?"

This time he paid more attention. _Go... Sleep._ She signed. _I... visit you._

Danny nodded quickly, wiping away the tears that were spilling from his eyes. When Ty walked in his dreams, neither of them were hurt. They could both function fully in the dream realm, which meant he'd get to hold her, get to kiss her, get to hear that she loved him again, things he hadn't been able to do for a month because she had been in a coma. "I will, love." He told her, standing up a bit to give her cracked lips a small kiss. "I will see you in a bit, okay?"

His wife gave him a small, weak smile before closing her eyes, her heart monitor slowing once more, signifying that she was asleep, an easy thing to come to a child of Hypnos. Danny watched her for a bit, noting how peaceful his wife looked despite the pain she was probably in, before he rested his head back on the edge of the bed, taking up her hand in his again. He gave her burnt face one last, loving look, remembering the beauty it once held, before closing his eyes and willing sleep to him.

·*·*·*

The first thing Danny saw was his wife's small smile greeting him when he fell asleep. Immediately he embraced her in a tight hug, and she let out a small laugh when he did. Danny squeezed her to him for a few seconds longer before pulling away and pressing his lips to hers and deeply kissing his beautiful wife. They both melted into it, Ty wrapping her arms around her husband's neck as they did. The two lovers kissed for awhile longer before finally pulling away, out of breath. Danny nuzzled his wife's cheek lovingly, and she smiled happily, breathing heavily from their kiss.

"I missed you so much, love." He chocked out, starting to cry again. His loosened hold on her tightened again as he lifted her into the air, not receiving the familiar words she always said when he did, disappointment flooding through him. He knew what it meant. It meant that she was only there for something serious, and no laughter would deter her from it. But that didn't stop him from wanting to hold her, so he kept her in his arms, nuzzling her cheek lovingly as he waited for what she had to say, already dreading it.

"I missed you, too, Danny." The daughter of Hypnos murmured, resting her head on her husband's shoulder. "So much. I could see you, but I could never reach out to you till now." She gave his neck a small kiss. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to wake up. It just hurt too much to do so. It still hurts a lot. Gods," Her voice cracked a little as she started to cry. "Danny, it hurts so much. I could barely move while I was awake. It hurt so much." Ty started to sob into Danny, and he held her closer to him.

"Sh, love. It's okay. It doesn't hurt here anymore, does it?" He asked, not wanting her to cry. It hurt him more than he already was hurt, seeing her cry, especially when he knew that when he woke up, she'd be in immense pain, from what she was telling him.

Ty shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "N-no. B-but the babies. They're gone. I can't feel them anymore. Danny, where are my babies?"

Danny blinked and pulled away from his wife, shocked that he knew about their surgical removal already. "Th-they're safe, love." He told her. "Both of them." He winced inwardly at the lie he had just told his wife, especially since all the pain she was suffering right now. But he didn't want to make her pain worse by telling her that they had lost Jacky, that their son had died during surgery and only his sister could be saved.

She gave him a small smile at that. "Good. Three is my favorite number, anyways." She cupped Danny's cheek. "Stay happy for me, okay?"

Danny quickly shook his head, seeing where this was going already and tears threatening him once more. "N-no. Love, I can't do that. We can't be three without you. Without you, it's just two. Please, love. Don't leave me. Don't leave us. We have a daughter. Don't leave us, please, love." He begged, crying.

She smiled softly, not at all angered when her husband hinted a confession to lying to her. She rubbed his cheek softly with her thumb. "Danny, I'm not going to make it through this, and you know that."

He shook his head again in denial. "No, love. Please. You can make it through this. You _will_ make it through this. Please, love. Please. Ginny can't grow up without her mother. Please."

"Danny, sweetie..." Ty murmured sadly, tears in her own eyes. "If I do make it through this, I won't be able to talk. I'd only be able to hear half as well as before. I won't be able to breath on my own. I'm going to have nasty scars from the burns, scars that will never go away and that will make people look at me funny and point, or avoid me all together. I won't be able to walk, Danny. I felt the absence of my leg when I had woken up. I'm not going to be able to live off of life support. Please. Save me the pain and just let me go. Turn off the life support and let me die."

Danny hugged her tightly to his chest again, burying his face in the nook of his wife's neck as he cried into her, knowing that she was right. He had to let her go. He had to keep her from the needless pain. But it hurt him, the thought of letting his wife go. It hurt him more than he would have liked. What happened to that forever and always they always told each other? Did forever really mean only four years before he was handed a child, told to raise his daughter without a mother, without the love of his life to help him? Is that what forever meant? Did always mean that he had to be the one to kill her, because she had asked him to, and because he loved her beyond compare? Is that what always meant? If so, he didn't like it anymore. He didn't want to love Ty "forever and always" anymore, because "forever and always" hurt him too much to do so.

"I can't, love." He sobbed. "I can't do it."

"Danny, please. I'm begging you."

He pulled away and looked into Tys multicolored eyes, looked into them and saw the pain she felt, the pain that she had said she didn't feel anymore, but had lied to him about that just like he had lied about Jacky still being alive. She still felt it. She still hurt, even in the dream world. That's how much pain she was in, and Danny was stopping her from feeling relief. He was the reason why she was still in pain. Because he was too selfish to let her go, too selfish to live without her.

Finally, he nodded. Ty smiled warmly at her husband. "Thank you, Danny." She murmured, wiping away his tears with her thumb.

He nodded again, letting in a shaky breath before speaking. "Can I spend just a few more hours with you here before I have to... before I have to..." he couldn't finish his sentence before his throat closed up, but Ty understood what he was trying to say, and she nodded.

"I'd enjoy that greatly." She told him sadly. Danny gave her a small smile before pressing his lips to hers once more.

·*·*·*

The next day Danny woke from the dream he was sharing with Ty. He blinked open his tired blue eyes and looked towards his wife again, momentarily hoping to see her sleeping form in his arms like they always were before the house fire. But she wasn't there. Instead she was sleeping on a bed without him, in the hospital and dying. And it was now his job to end her pain.

Danny considered not doing it, but then he remembered the pain that had been in his loves eyes as they spent just a few more hours together. He looked towards her and, holding back his tears, stood up and walked over to her life support. He flipped off all the switches, not daring to look at her again in case his mind decided to change last minute and flip them all back on. A couple moments after all the switches were down, her heart monitor flat lined, and doctors rushed in to see Danny, crumbled on the floor and crying.

"She told me to." He told them through his tears. "She was in pain. She told me to do it."

They looked at the grieving husband in sympathy, and proceeded turning off all the equipment. "Time of death," one of them said. "5:29 pm, July twenty seventh."

Danny blinked at what day it was. _The day we first met. She knew it was today. She wanted to make it that last day so we weren't together for only four years, but five..._ That brought more tears to his eyes and he began to sob once more. _Goodbye, love. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. But always know I love you, Ty. Forever and always._ He looked towards the burnt corpse of his wife and let in a shuddering breath. "Wait for me in the Underworld, love." He whispered. "I'll see you again soon."


	2. Forgotten Memories

I remember every year with Dad. He doesn't think I remember all of them, but I do. I remember how every year, a week before my birthday, he'd cry. And every year, a month after my birthday, he'd cry again. Every time he cried, he was holding this picture of a woman I didn't recognize. He never let me see it, but I caught a glimpse of her picture when he had left to get a drink from the fridge. She was pretty. Beautiful, even. But I didn't know who she was, and that made me cry, because Daddy was crying, and when Daddy cried, I felt sad, because I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't know how to help him, and I wanted to help him. But I couldn't. I was too young to help him.

I remember how he always said to me when I got older that I looked just like her. I still didn't know who she was, and why Daddy was comparing me to her. He told me, also, that I would have loved her. Yet he never told me who she was.

Sometimes, he'd hold three rings in his hand, moving them around between his fingers as he thought. One of them looked like the one he always wore on his left hand, on the finger next to his pinky. Sometimes he'd whisper the words "I love you" to the three rings, followed by him telling them "Forever and always" before silent tears slid down his cheeks.

I don't know who he was talking to, but every time he started to cry after I turned six, I'd crawl into his lap and tell him "Daddy, don't cry. I'm right here, daddy. Please don't cry", and he'd give me a small smile before wrapping his arms around me and hugging me close as he swayed side to side, telling me that I was already "just like her", even at my young age.

Still, I didn't know who he was talking about.

I remember, one year, when I was eleven. Daddy was crying again, sitting on the couch and hugging the picture close to his chest, occasionally glancing at it and giving it a small, sad smile. I was doing my homework, struggling with a certain problem my advanced math class had given me. I kept getting distracted as my Dad cried. It had become a yearly thing, him crying over the picture, but it still made me want to cry with him. I loved my Dad. He was the only family i had besides grandpa Adam. And when Daddy cried, it hurt me. He was always so strong on the days he wasn't crying over the picture. He could do anything on the days he wasn't crying. But when he was, he had to take the day off from work, because he'd be crying all day over the mysterious woman in the picture.

Finally, I had to put my pencil down and stop working on my homework to comfort Daddy. I couldn't let him cry any longer. I had gotten up and went over to the couch to comfort him. I rested a hand on his shoulder, and he jumped, startled by my touch. I hesitantly removed my hand from his shoulder, and he looked up at me, a small smile on his stubbled face, not having shaved for a week. And that smile urged me to ask questions. After eleven years, I finally asked Daddy who the woman in the photo was.

"Daddy, why do you cry so much?" I finally asked him. His deep blue eyes watered a little at my question, and he bit his lip. He didn't answer my question, trying to stop the flow of tears threatening him. "Every year you cry a week before my birthday, and then a month after it. Why? Is it because of that woman in that picture?"

Hesitantly, he nodded.

"Daddy, who is she?"

Again, he was hesitant, but after awhile, he answered. "Ginny, the woman is your mother." He told me.

"My mom? I thought she left us when I was born. Why are you crying over her if she left us, Daddy?"

"Ginny, Ty... your mom didn't leave us. She died."

Mom... Mom died? She never left us? She... she _died_? "When? When did she die?" I choked out, finally understanding why he cried so much. The way he cried, what he said when he cried... He loved her. He loved my mom. But I never knew her. Nobody had ever mentioned her to me before. That's why I had thought she had left. That's why Daddy always cried...

My Dad bit his lip, wiping at his eyes. "When you were a month old. A month premature. The day you were supposed to be born, she died. She told me to do it. She told me to turn everything off. She told me to let her die." He let out a silent sob and more tears fell down his face. "I killed her, Ginny. I killed my love, your mother, because she had told me to. She was in so much pain after the accident. After the house caught fire. She never even got to see you. She never got to hold her baby before she died. She never-"

I quickly silenced my father as he began to cry uncontrollably, tears in my own eyes because I finally understood. I finally understood why he cried so much, why I never heard any mention of my mom. I understood why he always seemed to be in so much pain. I finally understood, and because of that I began to cry, too. I began to cry, and Daddy began to comfort me, and we began to comfort each other over the lose of my Mom for the first time in eleven years.

"Your brother died, too." He cried as he comforted me. Again, I never knew of this person he had just spoken of, and I began to cry more. "He died, the day of the accident. The day you were born." His hold on me tightened. "I can't lose you, Ginny. You're all I have left to remind me of them. My only daughter. Please. Don't die. Don't die like they did. I need you."

I nodded, wiping away my tears. For eleven years Daddy had cried over a mother I never got to know, over a brother that had never seen the light of day. For eleven years he had cried over lost family, and for eleven years I had never known. But then I knew, and I understood. I understood why Daddy always tried to keep me in his sight. I understood why he was so forgetful everyday I left for school, or on the days when I had gotten home late because I had to do something after. I understood, then, why he told me he loved me so much. At first I had thought it was just because of who he was. But then, I knew it was because he was afraid of losing me.

"I won't, Daddy." I choked out as I cried. "I promise."

For the rest of the day we had cried in eacother's arms, him grieving over a woman he had known and loved, and me grieving over a complete family I could never have. A year later, he began telling me everything about her, about mom. There were tears in his eyes as he did, but for the first time I had heard him laugh as he told me stories of Mom. Some were sad, some gave me the feeling of anger, but most of them, they were of happiness, and I learned over the course of the years that he had loved her with all his heart, that Daddy would have given mom the world if she had asked, and the universe as a side gift. And for the first time, I began to know mom. And I loved her, just as much as Daddy had loved her.

Thank you, Daddy, for letting me get to know Mom. I love both of you. Be happy in Elysium, Mom, Dad, and love each other forever and always.


End file.
